The Top Three Bars in Illinois

17When you go out, wouldn't it be nice to do it at a place considered one of the best?

Personally, that's all I'm looking for. Life is too short to hang out at dumpy places, especially considering when you have some legendary spots in your home state.

That means there is no reason to settle for anything less than the tops.

THE BEST BARS IN AMERICA

Illinois has some of the finest watering holes, drinking establishments, tap houses, taverns, lounges, or whatever you want to call them in America.

I'm sure you could ask anyone of legal drinking age, and they will tell you their favorite place to have a drink or two.

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According to the experts at Food & Wine, they shared a list of the 15 Top Bars in the US. The best news is that all three are within arms' reach of us in the Land of Lincoln.

THE BEST BARS IN ILLINOIS

Kumiko

630 West Lake Street in Chicago

Owner Julia Momose uses both ingredients and techniques from Japan and weaves them seamlessly into a lengthy list of dinks that are often best experienced in omakase form.

Yelp

The Violet Hour

1520 North Damen Avenue in Chicago

Enter the polished interior through unmarked curtains and savor the Prohibiton-era vibes.

Yelp

After

1338 West Fulton Street in Chicago

After is the companion space to chef Curtis Duffy's Michelin-starred restaurant.

Yelp

Of the three bars above, Kumiko is the highest rated on Yelp, with a 4.4 overall. The Violet Hour is close behind with a 4.2, and After has a 3.9.

All are decently rated when considering how fickle most Yelp reviewers can get.

If I could only choose one, I would try The Violet Hour. I'd have to figure out how to get in first, though. The door is tough to find because of an ever-changing mural painted outside.

yelp

Maybe all three. What about you? Have you been to any of these bars? What's your favorite?

See below for the list of signature drinks across the US. Illinois' choice was a shock.

What Are the Signature Drinks From Every State?

LOOK: Best Beers From Every State

To find the best beer in each state and Washington D.C., Stacker analyzed January 2020 data from BeerAdvocate, a website that gathers user scores for beer in real-time. BeerAdvocate makes its determinations by compiling consumer ratings for all 50 states and Washington D.C. and applying a weighted rank to each. The weighted rank pulls the beer toward the list's average based on the number of ratings it has and aims to allow lesser-known beers to increase in rank. Only beers with at least 10 rankings to be considered; we took it a step further to only include beers with at least 100 user rankings in our gallery. Keep reading to find out what the best beer is in each of the 50 states and Washington D.C.

Gallery Credit: Angela Underwood